Schools facing catastrophic winter

[noblegiraffe]

Schools are starting their Autumn term facing an unprecedented funding crisis. Headteachers are becoming increasingly frantic in their disbelief that the government has done fuck all about it, and appears to be planning to continue to do fuck all about it.

There are few issues contributing -

The energy crisis - school energy bills are not capped, unlike household ones. To give an idea of the scale of the issue, Ormiston Academies Trust which sponsors 43 schools will see its energy bills rise from £5.1 million to £14.3 million. Grant Shapps, transport minister, says that schools could consider switching to LED lightbulbs.

Teacher and support staff payrises - the government have recommended payrises for teachers and support staff, but crucially will not be giving schools extra money to fund them. If schools give staff the recommended pay rise, they will have to cut services to fund this (even before you consider the energy bills)

The cost of living crisis - schools are facing increased prices just as households are. Food for the canteen, stationery orders, everything is more expensive. Sam Freedman tweets "Very rough calculation is that energy bills plus teacher pay increase plus higher food costs are going to add around £5bn to school budgets nationally. Just under 10% of the total budget. And none of it was built into the funding model."

On top of that, covid still needs to be considered. Last Jan/Feb schools were in chaos due to staff absences (the government widely trumpeted their call for an army of volunteers to step in, which didn't appear). At the end of the summer term, all the education unions wrote to James Cleverly, temp Ed Sec asking for a covid plan that included increased funding to schools for supply teachers to cover staff absence. Given that we haven't actually got a functioning government at the moment, I'm pretty sure he hasn't replied. Signs are that we're facing a bad flu season too, vaccinating school staff should be a consideration. Some schools already pay for the flu jab for staff, most won't be eligible for a covid booster, no idea what the impact of that will be. Obviously there will be pressure to close windows to keep any heat in, which goes against covid guidance for ventilation.

Some academy trusts appear to have large reserves which will help them weather the storm, most very much don't. twitter.com/ajjolley/status/1564562763443277825?s=21&t=nmM2Q_vFCmo5GzILNNKhfg

School leaders are reporting that they will have to make support staff and/or teachers redundant or pause recruitment, restrict heating, cancel school trips and extra curricular activities. This will inevitably have an impact on children, and on the quality of education on offer.

I'm not sure what either Truss or Sunak have said about the crisis facing education, all I've heard is wittering about grammar schools. An intervention is needed urgently.

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/energy-bills-cost-of-living-crisis-schools-face-catastrophic-winter

@BestTeacherMug our local Trust have said they will try their best but due to additional costs and no extra funding there will likely be staff cuts. Hopefully, not redundancies but not replacing staff when they leave. Most schools are already stretched with staff, so this is very much not a non-issue and more shit and not the same old shit

If it's really a non-issue, why does anyone have heating on at all in the winter?

Do you feel the same about hospitals not being able to afford energy bills or just schools?

It is very concerning that we are even discussing this in 2022.

I can’t stand the idea of my 5 year old having to wear her coat in lessons.
I bloody hope it doesn’t come to that, she’d be better off at home.

This! My wealthy retired neighbor is like this. He has led a very comfortable life but loves to criticise those less well off, and how very dare they ever complain!
He’s alright Jack, and doesn’t want to hear about anyone that isn’t.

@EarthlyNightshade I was going to say that the focus needs to be on hospitals anyway.

Like PP have mentioned - schools are cold anyway due to windows being open. Otherwise we'll all get Covid again won't we.

Or has everyone forgotten how to ventilated a classroom?

Sometimes being a professional requires having some logic. Logic applies here.

Don't want covid? Open windows
Open windows = cold temps
Heating = out the window
Wasted heating = waste of cash

That's how our school views it anyway :)

Schools energy use isnt all about heating.

What has that got to do with the energy prices?

I am working on it, but like most council’s our is flouting the law and doing absolutely anything to deny, delay or lie to avoid an ECHP which might mean giving up any money to schools. Every local professional we’ve spoken to has said be prepared for battle. It’s a terrible state of affairs.

It’s not a non-issue.

Expecting children to sit and write when the heating is off and they’ve had no hot food is an issue. Don’t we want our children and their staff to be comfortable?

Having worked in a school for nearly 18 years, I lost count of the times I used to go around at playtime shutting classroom doors to the outside left wide open on freezing cold days with the heaters pointlessly pumping out warmth into an empty room! We had all this nonsense about eco committees, green issues and world energy crises but the simple message about containing heat within four walls was completely lost. If the classroom was chilly when they came back in, the teachers would just whop the thermostat up too!
The pupils would regularly come to school in the depth of winter without even a basic jacket. This was a school in a reasonably affluent area so I can only assume because they were generally dropped as close to the school gate as possible, parents didn’t think about how their children were supposed to keep warm in the playground either.

@Appuskidu Do you want the children and their staff to get covid again? Is that what you want?

Windows shut, stuffy moist condensation covered windows full of covid?

Can just see it now, all those wet play times spent in the classroom and windows misting up, drenched in breath of 32 humans.

Lovely. 👏

Even if the heating goes off and some of us are too cold to talk properly (my lips turn an attractive blue and become numb as soon as the temp starts dropping), we'll still need lighting- especially those rooms without windows; ovens; computer rooms; lights in corridors.

Lots of us worked in the cold last year. It was horrible. You turn up at 730, in a nice warm car, then you're cold again until you go home. But you won't be going home until at least 530, so that's a long old day shivering. And then everything hurts, because you've been hunched over or holding yourself tight all day.

It was considered mainly for secondary where children are generally okay to be unsupervised at home for a while, and they'd have remote lessons all day. So no reduction in lesson time but a reduction in face to face contact.

It's unlikely to happen but this is a serious concern for schools that needs to be addressed by the government. They won't though, again.

I'm vulnerable to covid and need to access anti viral infusions if I catch it within the first few days. Covid put me in hospital once, led to a lifelong health complication and ongoing medication for life. Second time I was poorly but the infusion helped. Flu and other viruses have never had this effect on my health. Covid apparently doesn't do my system much good it seems.

If I catch covid I WILL be off school whether parents like it or not.

I've had four vaccines so far. I should be having a booster this autumn.

I supervise a school therapist. We're both very worried about what next year might bring.

It's deeply disturbing that the most vulnerable children will undoubtedly be very badly affected and the government doesn't seem to have any plans at all.

Which schools have you been in lately??? It's definitely not my experience in schools. We were freezing last year.

Granted school was ridiculously hot those few days in July.

You say this like its like it in every school with only one or two people closing doors.

We have always had to close doors otherwise the rooms become extra corridors for the pupils to run through.
We also have to close and lock Technology and science rooms due to health and safety.

The schools I work over certainly do t leave the doors open and let the heat out.

They don't even open full stop without a fob!

Schools have to cut their cost according to their cloth. After making cuts elsewhere, If there's only money in the budget to open for three days a week, or not at all on really cold days then what choice do they have? They can't afford it so they can't have it.

Wards are warm because they are full of mainly ill elderly people who need warm rooms. The corridors are often cold if you are in a hospital and being wheeled through a corridor. I have experienced this. Remember visitors are walking through wearing coats.

I’m guessing you don’t have children with this disgusting attitude? It’s not a case of a school just ‘wanting’ it. Jesus what planet are we on that schools are now considered entitled to want to be open to educate children and be warm and have lights on?! I honestly despair with peoples attitudes.

Maybe you think we should just close all churches, mosques and synagogues to save energy? I’m not religious so screw them let’s just shut them.

One of the things that will no doubt be put forward is that schools will still be having build works or improvements to various areas.
What people won't realise is that these will be from grants that have bid for and won for a specific purpose ant that can't be used for anything else.

I have also been teaching for a very long time-the schools I go in are very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. We can’t leave external doors open as it’s a safeguarding hazard and teachers have no control over the radiators or thermostat as that is centrally operated. As I have said before, our heating has gone off at lunchtime in winter for years to save money, making the afternoons bitterly cold. I assume this will now occur mid morning exacerbating the problem.

My head was very worried before we broke up about the costs of running hot meals at lunchtimes and operating a breakfast club at all-as this was not breaking even. That was before the more recent announcements about energy bills. If that happens we will have a good chunk of children who used to get a hot breakfast and hot lunch at school who will no longer get either.

Interesting that how on any thread about the impact of Tory inaction on public services/cost of living/energy crisis, there are people who will come on, regardless of how stupid they sound, to say that if only schools did x minor adjustment, they’d be rolling in money, or that it’s actually fine if kids can’t eat or are freezing

So it will be poorer kids at home cold instead and without the tech to take part in lessons?